66 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
COLUMN
While Oregon has a number of boat slides, Washington’s first opened this summer on the Puyallup and is
expected to be fully functional by mid-August. It opens up access to a good stretch of the salmon-rich Pierce
County river. Key players getting the project done included David Patrick (third from left), Pierce County
Councilwoman Pam Roach and designer and angler Ted Schuman (far right). (DAVID PATRICK)fish right away, while on others it’s a grind.
Watch the bottom contours as you make
your way to the middle, as it gets very
deep. This area is fairly small compared to
other troll fisheries in the South Sound.
Diagonal from Dalco is Gig Harbor.
It seems like every summer I see a yacht
trolling along the shoreline just north of
the harbor entrance hook up with a feisty
Chinook. It makes no sense to me but it
happens, and fairly frequently too. No
kicker motor or sonar, just a couple of guys
trolling along with a Dipsy Diver to a flasher
and cut-plug herring and then the net flies.
I caught my very first Puget Sound Chi-
nook near the entrance of Gig Harbor al-
most 20 years ago, so each year I spend a
few evenings here. Back then we were cruis-
ing along and my friend saw a large bait ball
on his sonar. We dropped the gear and on
the first pass I hooked a 10-pound hatchery
fish. I thought this was how it always was,
but soon found out that Puget Sound can
fool you into its bounty. Still, mid- to late
summer should present good opportunties.